Choose Your Own Hero (Warriors 116, Thunder 115)

This is all new. For the fans, for the players, for the rest of the NBA. The Warriors have won their first defining game of the 2013-14 season, and there’s a sense of wide-eyed discovery, of just scratching the surface. Thursday night against the Thunder, the Warriors could have moved the ball better in the fourth quarter, they could have connected on a number of earlier open shots, and they could have tightened up the defense here or there. But in those final seconds — reeling from a furious Thunder surge and heroic Westbrook three — the Warriors collected themselves, set up for one final play, and learned just how good they can be.

Nitpicking aside, this was one of the finest regular season games I’ve ever had the joy of attending. Both teams played tremendous basketball from the opening tip. It was a duel, filled with thrusts and counters. The Warriors’ stumbles in the fourth made their final, off-balance knock-out blow all the more rewarding. As always, it was rapturously received by the Oracle crowd, which felt — for a half second — like it might actually storm the court to celebrate with Andre Iguodala and the rest of the team. A win against an elite team is always cause for celebration, but this game meant a whole lot more to this still-coalescing Warriors team. After a preseason of hype and an early season of big wins against bad opponents, this was the team’s first opportunity to announce their arrival as a top-tier team to the NBA (and a national TV audience). Notice has been served.

The game broke down into three discrete sections: the first 41 minutes and change, when the Warriors played beautiful team basketball at both ends; the next 8 minutes and 50 seconds, when the Warriors’ offense bogged down in a futile attempt to draw Kevin Durant’s sixth foul; and the final 2 seconds, when Andre Iguodala absolved all the Warriors’ previous mistakes. Each stage said something important about where this team stands in its development.

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For most of the game, the Warriors looked like the elite team we’ve been enjoying for most of the year. The ball zipped around the court to the open man. Curry and Thompson rained threes from the perimeter. Lee, Bogut and Barnes slashed to the basket. The defensive focus was excellent — the Warriors stayed down, rotated well and worked hard to deny Westbrook and company the penetration and put-backs that send their offense into overdrive. The Thunder were reduced to jump shots, and thanks to relentless defense from Thompson, Iguodala, Barnes and Green, those jump shots were not easy ones. After decades of watching Warriors teams play undisciplined, selfish, haphazzard basketball, it’s hard to fully express the joy of witnessing a group of focused and unselfish athletes at the top of their game executing a game-plan play after play to near perfection at both ends of the court. The game remained close — because the Thunder are a tremendous team — but the Warriors finally gained a bit of breathing room at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth.

Whatever comfort came with a double-digit lead was short-lived. Kevin Durant was called for this fifth foul on the first play in the fourth quarter. He went to the bench briefly, but checked back in with 8:53 to go in the game. For the remainder of the game, the Warriors repeatedly went at Durant in isolation in unsuccessful attempts to draw his final foul. Most of those looks were David Lee isolation plays (he was 2-9 during the stretch). By dumping the ball to him and clearing out, the Warriors abandoned the fluid ball-movement that earned them so many good looks earlier in the game. They allowed Serge Ibaka to shade over and provide physical help when Lee finally worked his way into the key. The combination of Lee’s hard work in the prior three quarters and the physical Thunder defense seemed to knock him off his game. His shots stopped falling, the Warriors stopped moving, and the lead they had worked so hard to build over the prior 40 plus minutes disappeared in a few possessions.

The abrupt change was frustrating to watch because the Warriors had surged ahead by playing their distinct brand of aggressive basketball — spreading the court with long-range bombs, using that space to slice and dice the Thunder’s interior defense, and probing the entire court with crisp ball movement until they find daylight for a good shot. By switching to the isolation game against Durant, the team assumed a fundamentally defensive posture — letting their fear over what Durant might do if he remained in the game (not entirely unjustified) dictate their entire offensive approach. The Warriors would have been better served by pressing full speed ahead with the offense that got them the lead (and earned the first 5 fouls against Durant). They could have worried about stopping Durant at the other end, where Iguodala and Thompson had done a masterful job all night. By being responsive — adapting their game to the Thunder’s strengths rather than forcing the Thunder to adapt to theirs — the Warriors ended up with the worst possible combination of outcomes: Durant remained in the game until the end and the Warriors’ once mighty offense smashed into a wall of awkward and swamped David Lee post-moves.

The struggle described above is a familiar narrative for Warriors fans. We’ve seen countless games where the team plays just well enough to lose in the final seconds. They’re moral victories, the things you console yourself with year after year when you’re miles away from basketball relevance. They all blend together in the end, leaving a lingering sense of inadequacy and of being second-rate. When Westbrook hit his deep three-pointer, the disappointment that came crashing down felt familiar. But what came next was new.

Warriors fans have debated for years over who should “take the last shot.” Each team has had its supposed “clutch” designee — Jason Richardson, Baron Davis, Monta Ellis with his choreographed “hero ball” move that became so predictable defenders would anticipate his every step. The current Warriors roster has rendered the question of who should take the last shot largely irrelevant. When the Warriors broke their huddle with 2 seconds left, they sent Curry, Thompson, Barnes, Iguodala and Lee onto the court. There are no bad options here — each player had his own individual heroic moments during the course of the evening. The Warriors apparently deviated from their plan in the final play. The blistering hot Thompson was supposed to get a handoff from Iguodala and shoot. But Iguodala evaluated the scene and made a different decision. In the past, this type of deviation would have resulted in a five-second call, an airball from a poor-shooter, a dribble off a foot or a futile heave split seconds after the buzzer sounded. The play that won the Warriors the game couldn’t have been further away from all those predictable, failed “hero-ball” shots. Instead of everyone in the building knowing exactly what was about to happen, no one — including the Thunder — knew what to expect. Rigidity was replaced with fluidity. A miss replaced with a make. A loss replaced with a win. The transition that the Warriors have undertaken isn’t quite that simple, but for a minute — as the Warriors rushed off the bench to mob their teammate — it felt that way.

Mark Jackson tightened his rotations like a playoff game, going 7 players deep. I’ll do the same in my evaluations:

Klay Thompson — The only downside (and it is a minor one) to Iguodala’s game-winner is that it’ll draw attention away from how masterfully Thompson played at both ends of the court. He was beyond confident in this three-point shooting, pulling up in a split second off some highly difficult swing passes to knock down 6 of 9 threes. He attached the paint on several drives and worked in the post a bit, with nice results. He scored the last 5 points before Iguodala’s game winner, keeping the Warriors in a position to win the game. But what really blew me away was the relentless, disciplined defense he played on Durant and others. In one particularly beautiful sequence, he stayed in front of Durant through a series of moves, then cleanly blocked his shot when Durant finally rose up for a look at the basket. It was like besting Superman in arm-wrestling or beating the Flash in a footrace.

Andre Iguodala — As with Thompson, Iguodala’s game-winner will distract people from his more subtle dominance in other areas. Iguodala played point guard for an extended stretch due to Douglas’ absence and Bazemore’s hopelessness. He logged 9 assists and 0 turnovers following his field promotion to floor general. The Warriors had a remarkably low 7-turnover game, and Iguodala’s vision and judgment are a big reason why. On defense, Iguodala started on Durant and harassed him throughout the night. While he can’t take full credit for Durant’s sub-par 5-13 night, many of those Durant misses were with one of Iguodala’s hands in his face. Iguodala always gets called “versatile.” On Thursday, “universally dominant” was more fitting.

Stephen Curry – The Warriors’ win over the Thunder is even more impressive because they didn’t need a huge night from Curry to get it. He was productive but not particularly efficient. His 8-22 shooting was partially the result of Thunder defensive pressure, but there were also quite a few open looks that Curry simply missed. What Curry did after those misses was encouraging. Rather than just launching more shots, he went to the rim and challenge the Thunder big men. His series of twisting, spinning lay-ups in the third quarter were big boosts for the Warriors’ momentum and part of his game that would have been unimaginable last year. Curry also deserves credit for sticking around and crashing the defensive glass. The Warriors cut down on the second (and third) chance points that killed them in Memphis last week.

David Lee — While Lee may catch some flack for his dismal fourth quarter, it’s worth keeping a few things in mind. He had played a tremendous game for the first three quarters, forcefully attacking the basket and throwing the Thunder defense off balance. He also expended a lot of energy on defense, battling Ibaka in the post, then chasing him to the perimeter. When Lee was matched up with Durant in isolation in an attempt to foul him out, Lee was forced to go at a defender rather than slash past one. You can take issue with the strategy, but I have a hard time blaming Lee for failing to execute given the energy and discipline he showed at both ends throughout the night.

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Andrew Bogut — With Kendrick Perkins sidelined, the Thunder spent much of the night without a true center for Bogut to guard. While his bulk wasn’t needed in the post, his ability to rotate into the lane and shut off the baseline against penetration proved invaluable. The defensive intensity picked up whenever he was in the game (particularly in the third quarter), and he was off the court in the final disastrous minutes when the game almost slipped away. For the second game in a row, he received some nice passes from teammates as he slashed towards the basket. The focus on getting him the ball while he’s moving should go a long way to helping his early-season offensive struggles.

Harrison Barnes — The Warriors played the Barnes mismatch game to mixed results. When he attacked his smaller defender and slashed towards the basket, good things typically happened. When he faded away from the perimeter, it was often one-and-done for the Warriors’ offense. The goal for Barnes this year should be to gradually increase the ratio of aggressive to passive plays. If he can fill his game predominantly with the moves attacking the basket or backing down a smaller defender, he’ll be a huge asset on the Warriors’ bench. Barnes’ presence on the floor late in the game also demonstrated that who finishes the game is often more important than who starts it. His 16 points in 23 minutes is the type of productivity the Warriors will need if their bench players are going to hold (or even extend) leads.

Jermaine O’Neal — Last but not least, O’Neal provided a bit of old-school grit to the Warriors’ win. His stat line is quiet, but he was a physical presence whenever he was in the game, knocking guys around and clogging the middle. The days of easy interior baskets against the Warriors are over, thanks to O’Neal and Bogut. On the offensive end, his perfect line from the charity stripe was encouraging to see, particularly in a close game like this one. If the painfully slow hitch in his shot is working, maybe he should teach it to Bogut and Iguodala.

Ultimately, the most encouraging aspect of the Warriors’ 116-115 win against the Thunder is the fact that, as good as they played, the Warriors still made plenty of mistakes. Those errors are the ever-necessary room for improvement — the challenge next time out that the team will rise to meet. Being an elite team doesn’t mean simply achieving some level of competency and relaxing. It involves the constant desire to improve and refine the team’s game. To prove that they belong in the NBA’s top tier, the Warriors were hungry for a win against a quality team. Now that they got one, they shouldn’t be satiated — they should become even hungrier for this type of success.

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On paper, tonight’s game is a gimme, however this is your classic trap game.
Curry will be the best player on the court, no one can out work Dlee, and AI will be AI not too flashy but not too shabby either.
Which Klay will show up tonight? Will HB narrow tunnel vision be enough for our abysmal bench? Will Utah exploit their clear advantage in the post? Where will the offense come from when the threes don’t drop? Does RJ have something special reserved for his former team?
This is one more game Dubs can win going 4 on 5 but it will be too close for comfort. 98- 92 warriors. Go Dubs.

earl monroe

mexico prefers futbol/soccer

earl monroe

Bogut will have a big game playing defense and rebounding

Son of Ahmed

Not sure if this has been posted, but Coach Nick provides great conversation fodder in his review of the Warriors/Thunder game. It’s pretty clear that he is a big fan of the Warriors or at least how they play. He almost always gives them positive reviews.

Coach Nick should be a friend of the program (FOTP) because I think his thinking reflects that of many of Adam’s readers. Adam, in your copious spare time, you should do a monthly YouTube BBall Breakdown of your own–call it Fast Breakdown (Excuse the pun)–and have Coach Nick on as a regular guest.

Coach Nick talks primarily about Russell Westbrook and Harrison Barnes in this recap of the game.

First, I think his criticism of Westbrook is right on target. Westbrook became instantly overvalued as soon as he went down in the playoffs. Didn’t like hearing how crucial Westbrook is to OKC, when I believe his game undermines Durant’s. Of course, the Thunder were not as good without his potent scoring last June. Westbrook is a potent scorer and unstoppable at times, as we saw on Thursday night. But I think the Thunder would be better off trading for a smarter point guard who will always keep Durant as the team’s main weapon. Imagine the team with a Kyrie Irving rather than a Westbrook.

Second, Nick’s take on Barnes is interesting. He thinks Barnes will be the Warrior’s best player in 3 or 4 years and a perennial All Star. I don’t see him ever being as good as Curry, and I think if that is how high other GM’s evaluate Barnes, then trade him now.

Having said that, I am really pleased with Barnes’s development. He is a much better pro than I thought he’d be. Coming in, I had a few concerns:

1) Motor. I thought Barnes would be a guy who checks out of games and didn’t have a high motor. Turns out that he is completely engaged in each play, and since the playoffs he has been very assertive out there.

2) Defense. I did not think Barnes was going to be a good NBA defender. I know that a lot of the readers here liked his defense last season. Thursday showed me that he’s improved even more in that area.

3) Scoring off the dribble. His knock in college was that he can’t drive to the hoop. He can’t create of the dribble. Well, we’ve seen this season that he is able to do that. As the game has slowed down for him, he is able to take his man as we saw on Thursday. I think he will continue to get better. What I really like about him is he uses good discretion. He takes advantage of mismatches, but doesn’t force it against good defenders. He scores within the team’s scheme and is not a hero baller.

4) Shooting. I think that Barnes is a much better pure shooter than people understand. Television belies how smooth and fluid he is with the ball. Watching him in live action one can see that he is a natural shooter. It is this aspect of the game where jsl’s comparison to Wilkes is so apt. Coach Nick says that Barnes will improve his 3 point shooting over the next couple of years. I agree.

I was not high the Barnes draft pick. I recognized the potential, but did not have faith it would come to fruition. Well, I’m revising my outlook. He is a very nice piece for this team, and his explosiveness is something that will feed the fire of many a Warriors run in his career.

One thing he needs to improve on is facilitating. He is not a bad passer or decision-maker, but this is the area of his game that has the biggest margin for improvement.

Cheers!

knick

How about he has a big game ON BOTH ENDS. Defend honestly without fouling, box out and out rebound the opposing center, not turn the ball over, not shy away from contact and execute some moves in the paint like every other center.

coltraning

Here’s a little revisionist Joe B love. Yes, Parish went on to star with the Celtics, but I submit that if Joe B had played with Bird and McHale, he probably would have done just fine. Joe B was retrospectively considered horrid. However, consider this: In his first 6 years with the Ws, attitude aside, he averaged about 20 PPG and 9RPG and made the all-star team in 1987. Actually his #s were marginally better than were Parish’s, although Parish was a better shooter (or had better shots sharing the court with Bird and McHale). Fascinatingly, Basketball Ref analogizes him almost exactly to Andrew Bogut. I think the reason Ws fans were so embittered were twofold:
1) They saw Parish go onto to thrive and get 3 rings with Bird and McHale
2) JBC was notoriously averse to the press (a quality he shared with Parish, ironically – nicknamed, as you know, the chief, for his laconic mono-syllabic and stoic-faced answers.)

Not saying that JBC was a better player, but I do think context is everything, and we would remember JBC far differently if he had been on those celtics teams and Parish had stayed here…

knick

You mean he’s the 3rd best center on the team?

coltraning

? I recommend you reread Son of’s comment. and oh…How bout them Knicks, huh?

Son of Ahmed

Excellent post, Col. JB was a very skilled center, but his lackadaisical demenor did him in every time. Truthfully, he was not a winner. I’ll never forget George Karl ripping the door off of his locker after disappearing against the Lakers in the 1987 playoffs.

But JB was a intelligent guy. I loved his cerebral nature and personality off the court.

He’s probably in a robe right now with a pipe in his mouth watching masterpiece theater.

Thurston Hunger

Ah yes, and we have not yet seen the W’s go with a stretch four despite all the preseason talk..

coltraning

I can’t speak too intelligently to JBC, as I lived back east in those days, and was a fan of the celtics masterful run and then moved to New York to watch the Knicks struggle up from wretchedness to competence. But I do think luck and randomness play a part…it would be fascinating to have seen how JBC did with Bird and McHale…

coltraning

Knick, do you say this because you believe it? Or is it just to troll a response? Or are you doing a masterful parody of Meir’s obsessive hatred of Curry or NBF’s obsessive fetishization of liberal pot smoker Don Nelson? Or the dogging of D Lee by some over the past couple of years? Does the fact that he has a +12 in on court/off court make any difference to you? Do any facts matter to you? Ah well, I guess there is always the trusty minus button to make the illogical disappear…oh, and how bout them Knicks? Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith…could not happen to a nicer team…

earl monroe

He shies away from contact? ha ha ha ha ha ha what game are you watching? you must have Bogut confused with Carmelo

earl monroe

He says it because someone at some point disagreed with him on this blog regarding Bogut so he is taking it personally, and digging in.

Genghis Khan

okc DUBS GAME ON REPLAY NOW!

SurfCity

On replay where?

Genghis Khan

416 COMCAST nbatv

RickP

When I watch the games, what I see is Bogut being dominant on defense.
The numbers show 52.4% FG. A rebound almost every 3 minutes. +10 on court and 7.5 better than his off court number. These are terrific numbers — and he’s played almost as many minutes as Curry.
FT% is .47 — which is poor. 22 assists and 18 TO’s — also not impressive (he screws up the sneaky pass too often).
So, he’s not perfect. But, I think, overall, he’s been tremendous.

knick

Col…are you saying Bogut doesn’t need to produce on both ends? Are you implying his 47% FT atrocity is OK? or the fact that he’s averaging over 3TO pg is fine? Does the fact that he always play with the starters affect his overall +/-. How will those numbers look like if he plays with the reserves just like Curry and co? If Dlee has to play defense, Bogut has to contribute on offense. Isn’t that a fair proposition?
And how bout Bargnani. Ya’ll scoffed at the idea of signing him. Isn’t he a better center than Bogut?

I would bet my house if you can find 1 GM that would want Bargnani be their C for another 4 years 12M per.

If Bogut did not get his extension, he would get more than that even when he shoots 47% FT for the rest of the season.

That settles your idiotic claim.

Bogut >>>>> Bargnani.

Zume

Thank you Sarte for your good thoughts on this.

AlOha44

I remember the the trade well. I watched the Rainbow Classic Basketball Tourney in Hawaii around Christmas. Joe Barry Carroll played for Purdue and when they announced the MVP of the Tourney, I was hoping they don’t give to him because he seemed like such a Prima Dona. Much to my dismay they gave it to him. Then months later prior to the NBA Draft three collegians were the consensus top picks. JBC, McHale, and Darrell Griffith. I wanted the W’s to get Dr. Dunkenstein. Then, the worse scenario possible happened. The W’s announced a Trade of their 3rd pick and Parrish for the Celtics 1st pick of the Draft. Red Auerbach just worked over the W’s, he wanted McHale all along. I remember the Bay Area media saying that Parrish was expendable because you could tell he didn’t care much from the scowl always on his face. The W’s took JBC 1st, Utah took Dr. Dunkenstein 2nd, and Boston took McHale 3rd. So basically, the W’s traded Parrish and McHale for Joe Barely Cares. Boston went on to win multiple Championships adding Bird the other 2 Warrior-giftwrapped Front Court Players.

sartre

ET, he made the better sports career choice. Even the best professional rugby players can’t hope to make what established nba players do.

The thing about rugby is that most every athletic body type has a natural position – for very tall and strong men it is lock forward.

sartre

To put Bogut’s assists numbers into context. His assist rate, together with Marc Gasol’s, is the highest in the league among centers who have played a minimum of 200 minutes. Gasol has the lower turnover rate but Bogut has generated more points per 48 minutes off his assists (obviously added by the Dubs’ shooters).

Lee is 8th among PFs in assist rate using the 200 minutes cutoff. Lee’s assist rate per 48 minutes is 3.9 and his turnover rate is 4.6.

coltraning

Hmmm

Actually, I am fine with him giving 6-8 PPG on offense. His passing, screens and savvy are fine for me. Most centers are nightmares on offense and at the FT line. You know that as well as anyone. His defense is superb and I will take that, just like I took D Lee
s bad defense the last couple of years, because his offense and rebounding was so strong. Do I think the conversation around here that he was a better center than was D HO was silly and partisan? Sure. But would I rather have Bogut and AI than D Ho and NO AI? Absolutely…

I think Bargnani plays about as much defense as Bogut plays offense, and we already have plenty of offense. I think Bargnani is a prototypical soft Euro from what I have seen…maybe I am wrong and have misunderstood him. We shall see…

Interestingly, your boy Tyson Chandler reminds me a lot of Bogut, Both have much more impact on the game than their stat lines would indicate.

If you haven’t already, go watch Bogut in person where you can watch him off the ball, especially the way he is directing the defense. Maybe that will change your mind, if it is changeable.

Just like last year, he is a great finisher but a poor ball handler/driver. If he gets all the way to the basket he’s great at making the shot, but there are way too many turnovers. I’m not sure if he’ll ever be reliable enough in that area to be a dominant low post threat, but maybe with time. So far, though, it looks like his mid-range jumper is improved.

nelliebiggestfan

interesting aspect to the thunder game no one has addressed. The thunder went small with Durant at PF in the 4 quarter while the w’s stayed big, as a result the lead got smaller and smaller. With 1:37 left and clinging to a 4 pt lead MJ benches bogut , why ? according to this board the correct move is to stay big and even if you did bench a big I’m sure you guys would rather bench Lee instead bogut. Obviously MJ disagrees. Will this become a trend when opponents go small ? It’s easy to overlook this after a win but how will fast break commenters react after a loss if bogut’s on the bench at crunch time ? You have to ask if bogut’s such a difference maker why does he only play 29 minutes in a big game against the thunder ?

sartre

I posted the links earlier, SoA. A couple of us discussed the Barnes projection.

Guest

Troll somewhere else.

knick

Bargnani is shooting 52%FG, 44% from 3, averages more offensive rebounds pg than Bogut and 0.5blocks pg less. He has less TO and commits less fouls. I’m sure many GM’s out there will love him. Come to think of it, wasn’t it rumored that the warriors were interested in him?

Mopedelic

Just watched the game… Wow!

I do no get the criticism of MJ approach in the 4 th Q. Lee is their best interior scorer, he was going against someone who had to play softer defense (5 fouls). His chances of scoring had to be higher and in the process he was putting the best player on the other side at risk of fouling out. What is not to like? The fact that Lee did not score well was an anomaly, not an endictment of the approach taken.

The fact that thunder shot over 50% for the game when Durant was shooting poorly is an indication of how hot some of the other guys were.

I was surprised that Miller and Harlan kept harping on the rebounding discrepancy after the 1st qter. The thunder was shooting close to 80% and there were very few rbds to be had. Miller is smart enough to point that out, Harlan on the hand…

Eric Eiserloh

The question against Utah is whether there will be an emotional let down after the exciting win against OKC?

If the W’s come to play Utah doesn’t stand a chance, but if the motivation is lacking, and we are not in sync, this one could get too close for comfort.

How ’bout them Knicks?

Our Team

It wasn’t that MJ called Lee’s number once or twice. He called it about four times in a row and it didn’t work once. If it doesn’t work a couple of times and Barnes was so effective a few minutes earlier, bring back Barnes and try something different! It reminded us of MJs stubbornness in slowing the ball down and then not making an adjustment in Game 1 of the Spurs Series last year. He has got to learn from those mistakes.

Zume

Bogut great block on Hayward. Taught him a lesson. He will think twice about driving into the lane.

Zume

Off a made basket, Curry to Klay 94 ft pass for a catch and shoot. Wow.

Zume

Agreed Our Team.

I was actually hoping for Barnes or Green at the end.

Camelot

Sluggish 3rd quarter + Curry’s shoulder may have a pinch..

Zume

Bogut saves the ball to HB who delivers the ally-oop pass for the Bogut dunk. Now Andrew has 10 pts and 10 rebounds – a double-double.

Camelot

Can anyone confirm LAC Griffin has an achilees injury?

Zume

Klay is now in torch mode. Go, go, go

Our Team

That one-handed lob pass from Curry to Bogut for the jam was really a beaut. Curry and Bogut made it look so routine but there was nothing easy about that play, especially the pass.